Cranston Police, DEA dismantled the meth lab in a Cranston housing complex
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Nicholas Selser, 33, and Michael Fortes, 48, of Cranston, R.I., have pleaded guilty in federal court to charges related to the manufacture of methamphetamine (meth) inside a residence at the D’Evan Manor housing complex in Cranston, announced United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha, Cranston Police Chief Colonel Michael J. Winquist and Michael Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s New England Field Division.
Selser and Fortes pleaded guilty as charged in a grand jury indictment returned in March 2015, to one count each of conspiracy, knowingly manufacturing methamphetamine, possession of pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine and possessing equipment to manufacture methamphetamine.
Fortes, who entered his guilty plea on Wednesday, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on October 9, 2015. Selser, who pleaded guilty on June 29, 2015, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith on Sept. 18, 2015.
According to court documents and information presented to the court, Cranston Police, the R.I. DEA Drug Task Force and a DEA Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Team executed a court authorized search of the D’Evan Manor apartment on Feb. 18, 2015, and seized various chemicals, supplies and items used in the manufacture of meth.
Evidence was seized which indicated that the defendants had manufactured meth inside the apartment of the densely populated complex approximately eleven times on prior occasions. The defendants admitted to the court that they used the “one pot" method to manufacture meth, a simple but potentially dangerous method of manufacturing meth in approximately one hour. The manufacture of methamphetamine is often times a dangerous process which may result in explosion or fire.
Selser and Fortes have been detained in federal custody since their arrest on Feb. 18, 2015.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
